Spectacled bears require intact Andean cloud forest across a wide elevation range for year-round welfare, and habitat fragmentation forces bears into agricultural landscapes with serious welfare consequences.
Spectacled bear welfare is fundamentally linked to access to a diverse range of habitats across the vertical gradient of the Andes. Their exceptional ecological flexibility — from coastal desert to high-altitude treeline — means they require habitat connectivity across elevations to maintain nutritional welfare year-round. Fragmentation that restricts bears to a single elevation zone or isolated forest patch reduces the dietary diversity essential for meeting nutritional needs across seasons. The welfare consequences of nutritional stress include reduced reproductive success, compromised immune function, and the behavioral pressure to enter agricultural areas seeking food — creating human-wildlife conflict that threatens individual animal welfare through persecution. Corridor conservation that maintains connectivity across elevational gradients directly protects individual bear welfare.